Frequent Mover 180g Tank

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

Long Time lurker here.

My 180g tank has been through multiples move throughout the country from Las Vegas, Navarre, & now Orlando. I'm what you will call a budget reefer because many of my equipment are second hand.

Its seems like I have been hit with the reef bug every since I went into a live fish store over 10yrs ago. After joining a few different reef clubs and getting to know the guys at the LFS I have been on the up and up every since. Reason being is because every tank that I get seems to be getting larger and larger because I started out with a 20g, 34g, 40g, 72g bow, 120g, and now 180g.

Tank has been set up again since November 2020 and I feel like at time you set up a tank it's a new experience.

Tank:
180g 24" W x 29" H x 60" L

Filtration & flow:
Filter Socks
BRS GFO & Carbon
Return pump - Aquamag 1200
Skimmer - Reef Octopus
Heaters - Auatop 300w titanium
Flow - Ecotech MP40, Jebao CP-120 Cross Flow, Maxijet 1200, Hydor Powerhead
Auto Top Off - JBJ A.T.O Level Controller

Lighting:
(2) Ecotech Radion XR30 Gen 4 Pro

100+ lbs rock

Current Inhabitants
Naso Tang
Yellow Tang
Niger Trigger
Orchid Dottyback

Current Coral
Midnight Daisy Polyps
Flame Tipped Clove Polyps
Pulsing Xenia
Green Star Polyps
Kryptonite Zoas

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

This is what the tank looked like prior to moving.

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

I think that it’s important to report most things I’ve captured for build.
- Early Nov: movers dropped off tank.
Now it’s time to start over again but this time I wanted to do things differently. Wanted to restructure my Sump. Rather than just having the same open sump. So I measured my sump then I order the Triton Refugium Baffle kit - 55 Gallon from EBay.

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

This was the first time ever installing baffles in a sump also another first time was hard plumbing so I looked and searched for guides how to plumb I felt like I was clueless when it came to plumbing because in the past I would get estimates for the LFS to plumb my tank. I’m glad I finally took the plunge. After many BRS and YouTube Videos the results turned out well.

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

Now that the plumbing was good to go I had to work on the lighting. I was using the reefbreeders Gen1 originally but one side on the light stopped working and could not find a way to fix it after multiple driver and LED aboard replacements.

stewie · Jul 1, 2021

After this I realized I still could use my older Cora life Metal hailides T5 combo that I had in the garage. They worked great so I decided to order replacement bulbs from marineandreef.com. This is a great company and I highly recommend them. They sent me multiple replacements bulbs because in shipping the bulbs would get damaged.

stewie · Jul 13, 2021

Once the lighting and plumbing was good to go i cycled my tank using the fish less cycle. I dosed my tank with pure ammonia from ACE hardware. After a few weeks of ammonia dosing my tank was ready to go. I added a yellow tang, Naso tang, niger trigger, orchid dottyback. I also ordered a Hippo tang from live aquaria but he did not survive the shipping process.

stewie · Jul 13, 2021

There have been a few hiccups along the way one malfunction that I faced was my large Eheim heater was stuck in the on position in May 2021 and my fish tank was over 90 degrees. The heater was steaming when I pulled it from the sump. I quickly ran to the LFS to purchase a new heater as you can see from the photo the new heater registered at 88 degrees. Surprisingly all fish survived however the few coral that I had did not make it.

stewie · Jul 13, 2021

Fast forward to today I have replaced the metal halides and added two radions XR30s and also added a MP40 to my tank and everything seems to be doing great.